77-450: The Leyland Tiger Cub (coded as PSUC1) was a lightweight underfloor-engined chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1952 and 1970. The Leyland Tiger Cub was launched in 1952. Most were built as 44-45 seat buses, with a smaller number as coaches. The standard bodied dimensions were 30 ft (9.1 m) long by 8 ft (2.4 m) wide, the UK maximum at launch in 1952. It was named when
154-506: A vertical fire-tube boiler . By 1905 they had also begun to build petrol-engined wagons. The Lancashire Steam Motor Company was renamed Leyland Motors in 1907 when it took over Coulthards of Preston , who had been making steam wagons since 1897. They also built a second factory in the neighbouring town of Chorley which still remains today as the headquarters of the Lex Autolease and parts company. In 1920, Leyland Motors produced
231-520: A 5.9 L Cummins was introduced. It was notable at the time for its low-level passenger side windscreen, featured as a safety aid to enable the driver to see the kerb, although this was removed on later models. The basic cab had a long service life, being used later on the Leyland DAF 45. The Leyland Constructor was a 6x4, three axle wagon with gross weight up to 24 tonnes used as a tipper or on short haul distribution duties. The Leyland Roadtrain
308-574: A Bristol badge was a VRT/SL double-deck bus built in 1981. For a while the factory continued to build buses with Leyland badges, notably the Olympian which had been designed by the staff at Brislington. All work ended in October 1983 when the final Bristol-built Olympian chassis was sent to ECW to receive its body for Devon General (where it was registered A686 KDV). Work was then transferred to other Leyland factories. Early chassis types were given
385-482: A C-series number. When a new lower frame was introduced in 1920 they were known simply by the capacity of the body that was designed to be fitted. From 1925 a sequential letter system was given that ran from A to M, although the M type never went into full production. This was replaced by a new series that used initials to describe the vehicle, such as ' RE ' for 'rear engine'. Different chassis letter codes were used to identify different sizes of petrol engines, but with
462-510: A Leyland O350H 91bhp 5.76-litre diesel engine, a horizontal version of the engine fitted to the Comet 90 . It had a newly designed lightweight high straight frame with a vertical radiator set just behind the front axle. The launch transmission was the same four-speed constant mesh unit which had been used in the Tiger PS1, Titan PD1 and their export equivalents. There was a choice of either
539-703: A chairman, Sir George White , who in January had taken some buses out of service in Bristol to send to Middlesbrough when a rival company had tried to start a competitive service. The Middlesbrough order was followed by a number of trucks for the Royal Navy Air Service . The Great Western Railway bought a controlling interest in the tramway company in 1929 but the bus interests of the railway were transferred to Western National in 1931. This brought Bristol Tramways and its manufacturing activities into
616-593: A change in specification number were from 1957 when an Albion five-speed constant-mesh gearbox became an option for manual-transmission chassis and from 1958 when the 105bhp 6.15 litre O375H engine became optional across the range. Although conceived for the home market, export versions were soon introduced, these were the OPSUC1, with heavier duty tyres and suspension, and the LOPSUC1, which also had left hand drive, suffixes and options as for home market models. In 1962
693-466: A coach operator wanted a more up to date appearance. The last such rebodying was done for Western Welsh by Willowbrook in 1971. The initial production model was type PSUC1/1T, with the two-speed axle as standard. Omission of this was a no-cost option, in which case the T-suffix was omitted. In 1953 two variants emerged. For coaching duties type PSUC1/2T had a dropped-frame extension at the rear for
770-425: A complete new vehicle at the time, so designers were instructed to utilise as many existing in-house components as possible. It was perceived at the time that the resulting model would be a stopgap until the new T45 range was ready for production toward the latter half of the 1970s. The cab was a re-worked version of the "Ergomatic" tilt cab of 1965, heavily modified with different lower panels, raised height etc., and
847-820: A day's production through industrial action. During World War II , Leyland Motors, along with most vehicle manufacturers, was involved in war production. Leyland built the Cromwell tank at its works from 1943 as well as medium/large trucks such as the Hippo and Retriever . After the war, Leyland Motors continued military manufacture with the Centurion tank . In 1946, AEC and Leyland Motors formed British United Traction to build trolleybuses. In 1955, through an equity agreement, manufacture of commercial vehicles under licence from Leyland Motors commenced in Madras , India at
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#1732780321527924-674: A film in 1977 entitled The Quality Connection showing the importance of quality control. It featured well known actors including Frank Windsor , George A Cooper , David Suchet , Michael Robbins , Madeline Smith and Trevor Bannister . Bristol Commercial Vehicles Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer located in Bristol , England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built. The Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company started to build buses for its own use in 1908 and soon started building vehicles for other companies. In 1955 this part of
1001-416: A four speed transmission with direct-air pedestal shift and entered production as type PSUC1/3 from 1955. Also in that year two versions for 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) wide coachwork were announced; these differed from the previous types in having narrower axles. These were type PSUC1/4 with Pneumocyclic gearbox and PSUC1/5 with constant mesh. Two revisions to specification which were not accompanied by
1078-452: A lighter-weight chassis was introduced in 1952 as a modification to the older Leyland Royal Tiger (type PSU1) , which was regarded by certain influential customers, especially in the BET group of privately managed bus companies, as overweight, over-specified and too expensive, those who were operating it were also finding vacuum-servo versions under-braked. The Tiger Cub was powered initially by
1155-457: A luggage boot and a higher-ratio rear axle for a higher road speed. Among the first customers were Scout of Preston , an independent coach operator who competed with Ribble on Lancashire to London express services. They had the first five Duple Elizabethan-bodied coaches in early 1954. In 1952 Leyland had bought into Self-Changing Gears . This company owned the patents for the preselective type of epicyclic gearbox which Leyland had fitted to
1232-528: A number of customers who had traditionally purchased other marques from within the Leyland empire—Albion, AEC, Scammell, etcetera – who were now left with no alternative but to have a Leyland-branded vehicle or purchase from elsewhere. Some Constructors, with their Scammell-based chassis, were built with Scammell badging as well. Throughout its production run, engine choices included the AEC-based TL12,
1309-405: A number of roadtrains in its fleet which enjoyed a comparatively long service life (until the late 1990s) before being replaced by the newer DAF 85. Sales were never quite satisfactory, however, with the vacation closure extended in 1986 to reduce unsold stock. Production ended in 1990, a few years after the sale of Leyland Trucks to Dutch firm DAF in 1987, although as a postscript DAF relaunched
1386-482: A single-speed or two-speed rear axle, both of spiral-bevel form and derived from the Comet 90 design, the latter using an electrically actuated Eaton driving head in a Leyland casing. Wheels were of the eight-stud type and diaphragm-type air braking was standard. This was the first time Leyland had offered a bus chassis without another braking option, whilst vacuum or vacuum-hydraulic brakes were still standard across most of
1463-433: A six-cylinder model was added to the range to power the new C and D models. The C failed to get past the prototype stage, but the D was joined in 1931 by the G and J which also used Bristol's six-cylinder JW engine. Bristol first offered a diesel-engined chassis in 1933. This was a JO single deck fitted with a Gardner five-cylinder engine. The GO double deck soon followed, but the petrol-engined J and G versions remained in
1540-472: A straight carry over from the preceding "stopgap" model Marathon range, The Rolls-Royce Eagle 265/300 and the Cummins 290 L10 and 14-litre 350 coupled to a Spicer or Eaton transmission, although all versions produced a distinctive whine from the propshaft knuckle joint when approaching 60 mph (97 km/h). The TL12 engine was dropped early on in the production run, with most large fleet buyers choosing
1617-610: A subsidiary of Paccar . Leyland Motors has a long history dating from 1896, when the Sumner and Spurrier families founded the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in the town of Leyland in North West England. Their first products included steam powered lawn mowers . The company's first vehicle was a 1.5-ton-capacity steam powered van. This was followed by a number of undertype steam wagons using
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#17327803215271694-578: Is entering the European truck market directly. With its purchase of a 26% stake in UK-based bus manufacturer Optare in 2010, Ashok Leyland has taken a step closer to reconnecting with its British heritage, as Optare is a direct descendant of Leyland's UK bus-making division. On 21 December 2011, Ashok Leyland bought an additional 49% stake in Optare, bringing its total to 75%. Historically, Leyland Motors
1771-621: Is still in service, but has now been replaced by the MAN version. In this format the British Army purchased 1,440 vehicles plus a significant number of spare Roadtrain cabs, to allow for accident damage The Leyland Landtrain was produced between 1980 and 1987, specifically for export markets. A bonneted design, it was built in the UK and exported in completed and kit form, the latter for local construction in Kenya and Nigeria. The Leyland Comet
1848-588: The AEC Reliance . This had a larger capacity engine (and a vacuum brake option until 1966). The AEC version of the semi-automatic gearbox (Monocontrol) came as standard with a faster-engaging electro-pneumatic control. From 1961 when longer single decks were allowed domestic sales of the Tiger Cub began to tail off, and by 1969 the model could be considered replaced in the British Leyland catalogue by
1925-692: The British Leyland Motor Corporation , formed when it merged with British Motor Holdings in 1968, to become British Leyland after being nationalised . British Leyland later changed its name to simply BL, then in 1986 to Rover Group . After the various vehicle manufacturing businesses of BL and its successors went defunct or were divested, the following marques survived: Jaguar and Land Rover , now built by Jaguar Land Rover owned by TATA Motors ; MG , now built by MG Motor , and Mini , now built by BMW . The truck building operation survived largely intact as Leyland Trucks ,
2002-546: The Kingston upon Thames factory at Ham from 1922 to 1928. Three generations of Spurriers controlled Leyland Motors from its foundation until the retirement of Henry Spurrier in 1964. Spurrier inherited control of Leyland Motors from his father in 1942, and successfully guided its growth during the postwar years. Whilst the Spurrier family were in control the company enjoyed excellent labour relations—reputedly never losing
2079-551: The Leyland Eight luxury touring car, a development of which was driven by J.G. Parry-Thomas at Brooklands . Parry-Thomas was later killed in an attempt on the land speed record when the car overturned. Rumours that a chain drive broke were found to be incorrect when the car was disinterred late in the 20th century as the chains were intact. At the other extreme, they also produced the Trojan Utility Car in
2156-687: The Metropolitan Transport Trust in Perth purchased 120 between 1965 and 1967. Some were also purchased by Fearne's Coaches and Melbourne-Brighton Bus Lines . Some second-hand Tiger Cubs were imported into Australia from Sweden and the United Kingdom in the 1970s and operated by Fearne's Coaches, Ingleburn Bus Service and Oliveri's Bus Service . The Tiger Cub was very much the product of its straitened times, and throughout its production life faced stiff competition from
2233-530: The RTL and RTW Titans it sold to London Transport . It was working on a new type of direct-acting epicyclic gearbox at the time of the Leyland takeover. Leyland announced this product in 1953 as the Pneumocyclic; the first two demonstrators were a Titan and a Tiger Cub. The Tiger Cub was demonstrated to London Transport during 1953/54 alongside an AEC Monocoach and a Bristol LS6G. This version of chassis had
2310-517: The Rover brand that Leyland had bought in the 1960s, and would eventually gain prominence as BL gradually retired most of its marques. The equity stake in Ashok Leyland was controlled by Land Rover Leyland International Holdings, and sold in 1987. At this point, while building about 10,000 trucks per annum, Leyland was more and more depending on outside engines as production of their own 98-series
2387-468: The Tilling Group . It was a policy decision by the Tilling Group to adopt the diesel engine as the standard power unit, which started a period of many decades of installing Gardner diesel engines to Bristol chassis. Other companies in the group increasingly turned to Bristol to provide their chassis. Many Bristol chassis were taken to Eastern Coach Works (ECW) at Lowestoft , another member of
Leyland Tiger Cub - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-566: The MW appeared in 1968 along with a Lightweight Horizontal engined chassis, to replace the SU midibus and sell to the private sector as a lightweight coach, the LH . The G was introduced in 1931 as a dedicated double deck chassis, but this was replaced by the K in 1937. Larger versions were offered as laws changed to allow an increase in both width and length, but in 1949 a radically different double deck prototype
2541-483: The Rolls-Royce engine. The Roadtrain was available in day- and sleeper-cabbed form, in high and low datum versions—this refers to the cab height—high datum versions were intended as long haul vehicles with higher mounted cabs and more internal space. 6x2 versions were built in high cab form only on a chassis that was basically that of the ageing Scammell trunker. The Constructor's chassis was entirely Routeman behind
2618-465: The TL12. Other engine options included a 200 bhp Leyland L11, as well as Cummins 10- and 14-litre engines at 250 and 330 bhp, respectively. Production began in 1973, and various shortcomings were noted, including below-par heating and ventilation, and pronounced cab roll. However, road testers of the time were very impressed by the truck's power and performance. In 1977, the redesigned "Marathon 2"
2695-638: The Tilling Group, where bodies were added. The un-bodied chassis were moved between the two towns by delivery drivers wearing substantial weatherproof suits. Bristol Commercial Vehicles (BCV) was created in 1943 as a subsidiary of Bristol Tramways. The Transport Act saw the nationalisation of the Tilling Group into the British Transport Commission (BTC) in 1948. BCV and ECW soon found themselves restricted to selling products to other BTC operators. Nationalisation also brought
2772-534: The Titan and Tiger ranges in 1927 that revolutionised bus design. After 1945, Leyland created another milestone with the trend-setting Atlantean rear-engined double-decker bus design produced between 1956 and 1986. See List of Leyland buses for the list of bus products. The G-series cab was built in Bathgate and was available with several different names, such as Terrier, Clydesdale, and Reiver. After this cab
2849-521: The UK bus and coach industry. The prototypes were bodied by Saunders-Roe of Anglesey as 44-seat buses working initially for Midland Red while the second was shown on the Leyland stand at the 1952 Commercial Motor Show in the livery of Ribble Motor Services . At the show it was announced that the BET group had placed an order for 500 of the new chassis to be bodied in 1953 and 1954. The bodied Tiger Cub weighed around two tons less than an equivalent Royal Tiger, with commensurate savings in fuel. After
2926-586: The admittedly short life of commercial vehicles, any Roadtrain in commercial operation is now a very rare sight indeed. However, a small number remain in use throughout the country as towing-and-recovery vehicles. The army made use of an 8x6 version of the Roadtrain as a hook loader until recently. This is known to the British Army as Medium Mobility Load System (MMLS) Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System (DROPS), which has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan and
3003-634: The bus and truck production becoming the Leyland Truck & Bus division within the Land Rover Leyland Group . This division was split into Leyland Bus and Leyland Trucks in 1981. Leyland Trucks depended on British sales as well as export markets, mainly Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth markets. The early 1980s were very hard, with export sales drying up in many places such as oil-dependent Nigeria . In 1986, BL changed its name to Rover Group , with its name being derived from
3080-604: The bus fleet was transferred to the tram depot at Filton to the north west of the city. In 1908 the company built its first six buses. The chassis were erected by the Motor Department and three bodies each at Brislington and the company's carriage works in Leek Lane, north Bristol. In 1910 the company decided to build aeroplanes, forming the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, Ltd . The best place for this work
3157-521: The business was separated out as Bristol Commercial Vehicles Limited. It closed in 1983 when production was moved to its then parent company Leyland . The first trams of the Bristol Tramways Company ran in 1875, and in 1906 the company started to operate motor buses to bring extra passengers to their trams. In 1908 the company decided to build bus chassis for its own use, the first one entering service on 12 May. The Motor Department
Leyland Tiger Cub - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-575: The cab, albeit with altered suspension and with the front chassis rails splayed wider apart to fit the new C40 cab. In 1986, the high roofed Roadtrain interstate was introduced, a top of the range long distance truck with standing room inside. The Roadtrain was a common sight throughout most of the 1980s, with a great many of the major fleet users in the UK such as Tesco , Blue Circle Industries (unusually with high datum day cabs) and BRS running them. The firm of Swain's based in Rochester , Kent had
3311-602: The earliest days of the factory. A prototype container transporter for British Railways and a light anti-aircraft gun carriage for the Ministry of Defence also made use of BCV's expertise in road vehicle manufacture. Bristol provided the chassis for two railbuses in 1958. Each used a Gardner 112 horsepower (84 kW) engine and a hydraulic automatic transmission. The bodywork was built by ECW. They were used on branch lines in Scotland , but no further orders were placed and
3388-475: The first named Volvo Bus model, the Volvo Olympian , and aside from minor frame changes the major alterations were the fitment of Volvo axles, braking system, and controls. Both were the best selling double-deck bus chassis of their time. The Leyland name and logo continues as a recognised and respected marque across India, the wider subcontinent and parts of Africa in the form of Ashok Leyland . Part of
3465-661: The giant Hinduja Group , Ashok Leyland manufactures buses, trucks, defence vehicles and engines. The company is a leader in the heavy transportation sector within India and has an aggressive expansionary policy. In 1987 the London based Hinduja Group bought the Indian-based Ashok Leyland company. Today, Ashok-Leyland is pursuing a joint venture with Nissan , and through its acquisition of the Czech truck maker, Avia,
3542-624: The heavier Royal Tiger Worldmaster or later Leopard models but it kept Leyland in contention for home market single deckers during the 1950s. [REDACTED] Media related to Leyland Tiger Cub at Wikimedia Commons Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation ) was an English vehicle manufacturer of lorries , buses and trolleybuses . The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1967, respectively. It gave its name to
3619-433: The introduction of diesel engines from 1933 the size and manufacturer was shown by a suffix to the main code. In this way LD5G denoted an LD with a five-cylinder Gardner engine and FS6B an FS with a six-cylinder Bristol engine, and so on. All early chassis were used for either single deck buses or goods vehicles. In 1931 a longer J type single deck chassis was offered to exploit the increased length now permissible but this
3696-468: The model in low-datum form (it was already manufacturing the large DAF 95) as the DAF 80, using the Roadtrain cab with the 11.6-litre (710 cu in) DAF 330 ATi engine (quite ironic, given that this engine had its roots in the Leyland O.680 ). This model was produced for a relatively short time until 1993 with the launch of the brand new cabbed DAF 85. Due partly to the cab's propensity to rust and also to
3773-591: The narrow pneumocyclic version, the only ones built. Independents took Tiger Cubs as buses, coaches and dual-purpose vehicles, but as with the municipal Market, the Tiger Cub was not as strong a seller as the AEC Reliance . Major export markets for the Tiger Cub were Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Denmark, Ghana, the Netherlands, India, Jamaica, New Zealand and Portugal. Leyland often sold export batches with Metro Cammell Weymann bodywork, but bodies were also produced by other UK firms and by local coachbuilders. In Australia,
3850-486: The new Ashok factory. The products were branded as Ashok Leyland . Leyland Motors acquired other companies in the post war years: Donald Stokes , previously Sales Director, was appointed managing director of Leyland Motors Limited in September 1962. Originally a Leyland student apprentice he had grown up with the company. He became chairman in 1966. Chronologically, the 1960s growth of Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC)
3927-409: The power unit became the 125 bhp 6.75-litre O400H and the type codes were revised, to PSUC1/11, PSUC1/12T and PSUC1/13. These were respectively manual bus, manual coach and pneumocyclic bus versions. The narrow models were discontinued. At this time the manual transmission options changed to Leyland 4-speed synchromesh or Albion 5-speed constant mesh. Production continued until 1969. The last Tiger Cub
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#17327803215274004-595: The product range until 1936. Bristol continued to source its diesel engines from Gardner and other suppliers. In 1938 they began to develop their own but a production model was not ready until after World War II . The 8.14-litre AVW engine was available in 1946 and an LSW horizontal version was produced for the LS integral single deck in 1950. Larger 8.9-litre BVW engines appeared in 1957. More than 4,000 diesel engines were eventually produced. Bristol Tramways initially built bus and truck bodies at their Brislington Body Works which
4081-510: The show the body was removed from the second demonstrator and fitted on a production chassis. It was to be the first of many Ribble Tiger Cubs, whilst Midland Red never purchased new examples of the type. The debodied chassis was updated to production specification and sent to Walter Alexander Coachbuilders , Stirling for bodying as a demonstrator until 1956 when it was sold to Stark's Motor Services, Dunbar . Many later Tiger Cubs were rebodied, generally after accident damage, but occasionally when
4158-415: The similarly powered Bristol LH . BET depreciated buses and coaches on the basis of a 12-year life, so most of its examples were sold quite early, Scottish Bus Group , like many municipals, wrote its vehicles down over 15 years, with the result that most had disappeared from service in the middle 1970s. A number, both buses and coaches, survive into preservation. Overall, global sales were not as great as for
4235-604: The task of supervision of the Ministry of Supply 's motor repair works at Kingswood . In 1955 BCV became an independent company owned by the BTC. Rationalisation of activities saw new body construction cease at Bristol in 1956. Changes in government policy in 1965 allowed the Leyland Motor Corporation to buy some shares in BCV and ECW so that their products could once again be sold to independent operators. The last new chassis to carry
4312-680: The two drills was on a long lead so that it could be used outside the workshop. It was also equipped with work benches, furnace and anvil. It was driven to the Paris Aircraft Show. It was sold to the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914. More than 1,000 aircraft were built at the Motor Constructional Works to supplement the work of the regular Bristol Aeroplane Company factory at Filton during World War I . Again during World War II Brislington
4389-464: Was ECW in Lowestoft where they had been building bodies on Bristol chassis for United Automobile Services and other operators since 1929. Bristol Tramways even had a batch of K5Gs bodied by ECW in 1938. After World War II Bristol's old angular body designs became more like the contemporary, more rounded ECW designs. After nationalisation ECW built bodies for most of Bristol's output. In 1955 it
4466-597: Was a major manufacturer of buses used in the United Kingdom and worldwide. It achieved a number of firsts or milestones that set trends for the bus industry. It was one of the first manufacturers to devise chassis designs for buses that were different from trucks, with a lower chassis level to help passengers board more easily. Its chief designer, John George Rackham, who had experience at the Yellow Coach Company in Chicago before returning to England, created
4543-742: Was a max weight model with distance work in mind. The T45's cab is called the C40 and its design was a joint effort between Leyland, BRS and Ogle Design and was seen as the height of modernity when compared with its predecessors, the idea being to have one basic design to replace the various outgoing models (for example, the Bathgate built the G cab on the Terrier, the Ergomatic cabbed the Lynx, Beaver etc.). This did indeed make good economic sense; however, there has been speculation that Leyland did in fact alienate
4620-461: Was a range of heavy goods vehicle tractor units manufactured by Leyland Trucks between 1980 and 1990. The nomenclature "T45" refers to the truck range as a whole and encompasses models such as the lightweight 7.5-ton Roadrunner, Freighter (fourwheel rigid truck), Constructor (multi-axle rigid tipper or mixer chassis – its chassis owing much to the outgoing Scammell 8-wheeler Routeman ), and Cruiser (basic spec low weight tractor unit). The Roadtrain itself
4697-686: Was as follows: In 1968 Leyland Motors merged with British Motor Holdings (BMH) to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC). BMH, which was the product of an earlier merger between the British Motor Corporation , the Pressed Steel Company and Jaguar , brought with it more marques , including Daimler , Guy , BMC , Austin , MG and Morris . Leyland diesel engines were used in Finnish Sisu and Vanaja lorries and buses in 1960s. The BLMC group
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#17327803215274774-472: Was available in day and sleeper cab form. Engines were decided from the outset to be in the higher power category to be competitive with rival vehicles. The only existing engine within the Leyland empire suitable for such an application (following the demise of the ill-fated fixed-head 500 series and AEC's underdeveloped and unreliable V8) was the AEC AV760 straight-six, which was turbocharged and designated as
4851-601: Was available. The last VRs and LHs were built in 1981 and the last REs in 1982, but production switched to Leyland -badged chassis. These included the B21 and B52 single deck urban bus chassis and the Olympian double deck. Note that the 'type' shown in the table below refers to the most common configuration. Double deck bus chassis were sometimes given single deck bodies, and bus chassis were often given goods bodies. Bristol made their own petrol engines to power their chassis. Until 1929 these were all four-cylinder, but in that year
4928-490: Was bodied by Fowler of Leyland as a 44-seat bus and entered service with their parent company John Fishwick & Sons in January 1970. It has been preserved. The BET group were the largest purchasers in England and Wales. Of their subsidiaries, Western Welsh with a fleet of 271 had the most. In Scotland the largest customer was Walter Alexander & Sons who took 200 between 1955 and 1964. The largest municipal fleet
5005-498: Was decided that body production at Brislington would cease. The designs for the HA lorry cab were handed over to Longwell Green Coachworks , a company based near Bristol. All work had been transferred there by 28 May 1956. In October 1913 a mobile workshop was built to repair aircraft in the field. A 'large bus body' was equipped with an electric generator which powered a lathe, bandsaw, drills, shaping machine, grindstone and lights. One of
5082-591: Was difficult to manage because of the many companies under its control, often making similar products. This, and other reasons, led to financial difficulties and in December 1974 British Leyland had to receive a guarantee from the British government. In 1975, after the publication of the Ryder Report and the company's bankruptcy, BLMC was nationalised as British Leyland (BL) and split into four divisions with
5159-404: Was initially based at the tram depot in Brislington , on the road that leads east from Bristol to Bath. The Car Building Works there had been responsible for erecting electric trams and had gone on to build horse-drawn vehicles for the company. The first motor bodies built there had been three charabanc bodies constructed in 1907 for the Thornycroft buses delivered the previous year. During 1907
5236-441: Was introduced in 1986, also designed for export markets mainly in the developing world. As such, it was a no-frills vehicle of a simple and sturdy design, with five- or six-speed transmissions rather than the multi-speed units used on European models. The cabin was a simplified all-steel version of that used by the Roadrunner, designed to enable local assembly. The three-axle version is called the Super Comet. Leyland Motors produced
5313-434: Was launched, an updated and revised vehicle that attempted to address some of the previous criticisms of the earlier vehicle. Relatively few Marathons of all types were sold before production ended in 1979 with the introduction of the T45 "roadtrain" range of vehicles. This was Leyland's answer to the Ford cargo in the non-HGV 7.5-ton truck sector. Launched in 1984, it utilised a Leyland 698 straight-six engine until 1986, when
5390-493: Was on the same site as the Brislington tram depot. Low demand for new aircraft following World War I saw some bus and lorry bodies built in the aircraft factory at Filton, where the first bus chassis had been built. Most early Bristol chassis (and some of the few chassis that the company bought from others) had their bodies built by Bristol Tramways, but by the late 1930s most other operators were having bodies for their Bristol chassis built elsewhere. One such outside coach factory
5467-408: Was replaced by the L in 1937. In 1952 by a new Light Saloon was introduced which was built on integral principles. It had no true chassis but lightweight running units were fitted to a special ECW body that gave the bus its strength and rigidity. A more conventional Medium Weight chassis was offered from 1957. A larger single deck, the rear-engined RE, was produced in 1962 and shorter versions to replace
5544-568: Was replaced the tooling was shipped to Turkey, where BMC's Turkish subsidiary built it as the "BMC Yavuz" and then as the "Fatih" (with Cummins engines) from 1986 until 1996. The Marathon was Leyland's answer to the booming "max cap" truck fad at the start of the 1970s. Imports such as the Volvo F88 and Scania 110/140 were selling very well in the UK thanks to the previously unheard of levels of driver comfort, reliability, quality and performance. Leyland had insufficient money for development of
5621-507: Was steadily declining. The 1986 closure of Bedford Vehicles ' heavy truck plant further harmed Leyland, as they had been planning on selling axles and other components to the General Motors subsidiary. The bus operations was sold in a management buyout to form Leyland Bus , and was subsequently bought by Volvo in 1988, which then discontinued most of its product range but kept the Olympian . Volvo reengineered and renamed it as
5698-653: Was tasked with manufacturing products to support the war. The fuselages for 1,300 Bristol Beaufighters and 120 Bristol Buckinghams were built and sent to Filton for fitting out. It built gas producer equipment to enable buses and trucks to use anthracite as a fuel. It also produced aircraft and tank components, shells, searchlight generators and other military equipment. Brislington product's became more diverse after nationalisation. Heavy goods vehicles were designed and built for British Road Services in both rigid eight-wheel and articulated form. A few bus chassis were also fitted out as lorries, as they had done since
5775-503: Was tested. This had a specially designed chassis that allowed a conventional body to be fitted within the height of a 'lowbridge' profile, which with a conventional chassis was only possible with gangways below floor level and very restricted headroom inside. This prototype became the Lodekka which remained in production in various forms until 1968. By this time a rear-engine double deck, the VR
5852-489: Was that of Edinburgh Corporation , who took 100 from 1959 to 1961, these were also the largest fleet of pneumocyclic Tiger Cubs. The Ulster Transport Authority in Northern Ireland and JMT on Jersey were the major customers for the narrow manual version, which Jersey initially took with shorter than standard rear overhang, reducing length to around 27 ft (8.2 m). West Bromwich Corporation took seven of
5929-540: Was the sheds occupied by the Motor Department at Filton, so motor repairs and construction returned to Brislington. The tram depot proved too small for the volume of work and so a new 4 acres (1.6 ha) site, to be known as the Motor Constructional Works, was purchased nearby in Kensington Hill, Brislington. In May 1914 it supplied its first bus to another operator, a C50 fitted out as a charabanc for Imperial Tramways at Middlesbrough. The two companies shared
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